


Starting Their Forever

by DarthTella



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Declarations Of Love, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Tumblr Prompt, bed sharing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 07:23:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18278522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarthTella/pseuds/DarthTella
Summary: Tentoo is unsure where he fits into Rose's life and his fears are laid to rest.





	Starting Their Forever

**Author's Note:**

> Written for an Anon over on Tumblr.

Sleep.  It was a funny thing.  Almost every species in the universe did it, even Time Lords occasionally.  But humans seemed to be the grand masters of it, sleeping what appeared to be half of their lives away.

The Doctor just laid there staring at the ceiling.  He was now neither fully Time Lord or fully Human, but some strange hybrid of the two.  His body - what he perceived to be the Human part of him - was exhausted, while his Time Lord brain wouldn’t stop racing.  He was now in a different universe than the one he knew, and instinctively his mind had started to try and plot out the timelines that created it.  There were so many differences, some subtle and others massive, and he couldn’t see most of the details. He was itching to know the history of this place, to have it make sense.  

There was one timeline he couldn't see: his own.  It was determined millenniums ago back on Gallifrey that every Time Lord would be denied to see their own timestream.  That had a ripple effect, for if a Time Lord became close enough to another person so their timelines twined together, the other’s would also be obscured.

He held himself back from trying to look at another person’s timeline: Rose Tyler’s.  Against all odds, they found each other again. Well, it was more fair to say Rose found him.  His precious girl spent so long fighting to both defend this Earth and the multiverse as a whole, and he couldn’t be more proud of her.

Now though, he was having trouble figuring out where he fit into her life.  She seemed to have chosen him over the fully Time Lord Doctor… but was it really her choice?  He knew the Time Lords mind, he wasn’t lying when he told Rose they had the same thoughts and memories.  He just left both of them standing on that beach, dematerialising the TARDIS while they were caught up in what the Doctor could only describe as the best kiss of his life.  He had finally been able to voice how he felt about her instead of just deflecting or leaving a sentence hanging, unlike that coward of a Time Lord.

Rose had barely spoken two words to him since the TARDIS left them there.  She had let him hold her hand, but they were forced to separate in order to maintain their footing on the wet, slippery sand on that cold Norwegian beach.  A storm had quickly blown in and they were forced to seek shelter in this tiny rustic inn near the seaside. Two rooms were available. Jackie had taken one for herself, not even giving Rose a chance to argue before locking herself inside leaving the two of them standing awkwardly in the hallway.

Rose was now curled up on the far side of the bed, a large gap between them.  The Doctor wanted to respect her need for space while she worked out this frankly insane set of circumstances she now found herself in.  She was no doubt expecting to have been returning to the TARDIS instead of being back in the universe she’d been trying to escape from. But the Doctor’s arms just ached to hold her, and he wanted to just tell her again and again how much he loved her.  The ball was still squarely in Rose’s court though. She was already denied one decision today, he wouldn’t take another one away.

The Doctor knew she wasn’t asleep, he could tell by the rhythm of her breathing.  He turned his head towards her, and could just make out her form in the moonlight.  Rose must have sensed his eyes on her as she began to shift around and eventually rolled over to face him.  Their eyes locked instantly, and time seemed to stretch as they regarded each other.

The Doctor stayed quiet, afraid if he said anything he’d say something stupid and he’d push Rose away even further.  Slowly, Rose brought her hand out from under the blankets and rested it gently on the side of his face. His eyes slipped closed as she stroked his sideburn with her thumb and he couldn’t help himself form nuzzling into her touch.

“I love you.”  Rose’s voice was so quiet, the Doctor was certain for a moment that he just imagined she said anything at all.  His eyes blinked open and he saw that Rose was smiling at him.

“I love you so much, I’m sorry if I made you think otherwise.”  Her hand slipped from his face and she placed it over his now singular heart that was beating so hard it felt like it was trying to escape his chest.

“Rose…” He breathed her name, unable to think of anything else to say.  Rose shuffled even closer to him and the Doctor offered no resistance as she gathered him into her arms.  All kinds of emotions seemed to overwhelm him at once: relief, hope, happiness, excitement, love. His Time Lord brain was now totally incapable of filtering them all out and keeping him stable.  He didn’t even realise he had started crying. Rose held him even tighter and rubbed soothing circles on his back. Her touch calmed him as it always did, but there was one more thing he needed. His hand found the side of her face, his fingers curling under her chin, and she quickly clued into what he wanted.

This kiss wasn’t like the frenzied one they shared on the beach earlier that day, but it was still intense in it’s own right.  The Doctor poured all the love he had for her into it, and Rose responded in kind. He finally allowed himself to look at her timeline. Her brilliant golden thread braided around his, and while he couldn’t see their futures clearly, he knew they’d be together for the rest of their forever.


End file.
